SpectrumKV: Per-Token Mixed-Precision KV Cache Transfer for Prefill-Decode Disaggregated LLM Serving
Prefill-decode (PD) disaggregation decouples prompt processing from token generation, but it also turns the key-value (KV) cache into a network payload. Existing PD-side KV reduction methods are mostly binary: selected tokens are transmitted at full precision and the rest are not transmitted. This paper argues that binary selection leaves a useful design space unused. SpectrumKV assigns a precision level to each token instead: attention sinks and other high-importance tokens are protected at FP16, medium-importance tokens are sent at INT8, and low-importance tokens are sent at INT4 when the model can tolerate it. The main practical complication is that INT4 tolerance is model-dependent. Q...
| Authors | Yang Pengju |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.LG |
| Published | 7 June 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 7 June 2026 |
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