Quantization
In this chapter, we’ll dive into quantization methods that can optimize LLMs for deployment on resource-constrained devices, such as mobile phones, embedded systems, or edge computing environments.
Quantization is a technique that reduces the precision of numerical representations, thus shrinking the model’s size and improving its inference speed without heavily compromising its performance.
Quantization is particularly beneficial in the following scenarios:
- Resource-constrained deployment: When deploying models on devices with limited memory, storage, or computational power, such as mobile phones, IoT devices, or edge computing platforms
- Latency-sensitive applications: When real-time or near-real-time responses are required, quantization can significantly reduce inference time
- Large-scale deployment: When deploying models at scale, even modest reductions in model size and inference time can translate to substantial cost savings in infrastructure...