Collaborative Research: SHF: Small: Building scalable GPU simulation and efficient GPU memory management for large machine learning acceleration

NSF Award Search · 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $270,000 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

Recent advancements in large machine learning models have demonstrated that increasing the number of parameters enhances computational precision and unlocks capabilities once deemed unattainable. This trend is exemplified by the rapid growth in model sizes, for instance, GPT-3 contained 175 billion parameters, while GPT-4 reportedly utilizes up to 1.8 trillion. This trajectory is expected to continue in the foreseeable future. However, the explosive growth in model size presents two major challenges for computer architecture and systems research: prolonged simulation times, which can extend from several days to weeks for large-scale models, and infeasibility of deploying workloads on a single compute engine (e.g., a graphics processing unit (GPU)) due to limited on-device memory capacity. To address these challenges, this project proposes the development of scalable simulation techniques and advanced memory management strategies tailored for large-scale machine learning workloads on GPUs. Unlike existing application-agnostic approaches, this research will leverage the distinctive data access patterns and value distributions of modern machine learning models to enable more efficient memory compression and more accurate simulation acceleration. While the primary focus will be on emerging machine learning models, the broader objective is to advance GPU computing to better accommodate any big data workload constrained by memory limitations. This will facilitate faster and broader

Key facts

NSF award ID
2452082
Awardee
Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GA)
SAM.gov UEI
EMW9FC8J3HN4
PI
Hyesoon Kim
Primary program
01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
SMALL PROJECT, COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
Estimated total
$270,000
Funds obligated
$270,000
Transaction type
Standard Grant
Period
10/01/2025 → 09/30/2028