NVIDIA TensorRT-LLM Enhances Encoder-Decoder Models with In-Flight Batching

NVIDIA has announced a significant update to its open-source library, TensorRT-LLM, which now includes support for encoder-decoder model architectures with in-flight batching capabilities. This development further broadens the library's capacity to optimize inference across a diverse range of model architectures, enhancing generative AI applications on NVIDIA GPUs, according to NVIDIA.

Expanded Model Support

TensorRT-LLM has long been a critical tool for optimizing inference in models such as decoder-only architectures like Llama 3.1, mixture-of-experts models like Mixtral, and selective state-space models such as Mamba. The addition of encoder-decoder models, including T5, mT5, and BART, among others, marks a significant expansion of its capabilities. This update enables full tensor parallelism, pipeline parallelism, and hybrid parallelism for these models, ensuring robust performance across various AI tasks.

In-flight Batching and Enhanced Efficiency

The integration of in-flight batching, also known as continuous batching, is pivotal for managing runtime differences in encoder-decoder models. These models typically require complex handling for key-value cache management and batch management, particularly in scenarios where requests are processed auto-regressively. TensorRT-LLM's latest enhancements streamline these processes, offering high throughput with minimal latency, crucial for real-time AI applications.

Production-Ready Deployment

For enterprises looking to deploy these models in production environments, TensorRT-LLM encoder-decoder models are supported by the NVIDIA Triton Inference Server. This open-source serving software simplifies AI inferencing, allowing for efficient deployment of optimized models. The Triton TensorRT-LLM backend further enhances performance, making it a suitable choice for production-ready applications.

Low-Rank Adaptation Support

Additionally, the update introduces support for Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA), a fine-tuning technique that reduces memory and computational requirements while maintaining model performance. This feature is particularly beneficial for customizing models for specific tasks, offering efficient serving of multiple LoRA adapters within a single batch and reducing the memory footprint through dynamic loading.

Future Enhancements

Looking ahead, NVIDIA plans to introduce FP8 quantization to further improve latency and throughput in encoder-decoder models. This enhancement promises to deliver even faster and more efficient AI solutions, reinforcing NVIDIA's commitment to advancing AI technology.