Scaling Laws For Mixed Quantization In Large Language Models

Zeyu Cao, Cheng Zhang, Pedro Gimenes, Jianqiao Lu, Jianyi Cheng, Yiren Zhao

Keywords: large language model, scaling law, quantisation

TL;DR: mixed quantisation scaling law of large language model

Abstract:

Post-training quantization of Large Language Models (LLMs) has proven effective in reducing the computational requirements for running inference on these models. In this study, we focus on a straightforward question: When aiming for a specific accuracy or perplexity target for low-precision quantization, how many high-precision numbers or calculations are required to preserve as we scale LLMs to larger sizes? We first introduce a critical metric named the quantization ratio, which compares the number of parameters quantized to low-precision arithmetic against the total parameter count. Through extensive and carefully controlled experiments across different model families, arithmetic types, and quantization granularities (e.g. layer-wise, matmul-wise), we identify two central phenomenons. 1) The larger the models, the better they can preserve performance with an increased quantization ratio, as measured by perplexity in pre-training tasks or accuracy in downstream tasks. 2) The finer the granularity of mixed-precision quantization (e.g., matmul-wise), the more the model can increase the quantization ratio.
We believe these observed phenomena offer valuable insights for future AI hardware design and the development of advanced Efficient AI algorithms.

Primary Area: foundation or frontier models, including LLMs

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Submission Number: 3127