What Is Pipeline Parallelism and How to Use It
Pipeline parallelism divides neural network layers across multiple GPUs, enabling simultaneous computation and memory reuse. This technique contrasts sharply with sequential processing, where each GPU waits for the previous to finish before starting its task. Below is a structured comparison of both approaches: Pipeline parallelism reduces training time by overlapping computation and data transfer. For example, DeepSpeed’s implementation splits layers across GPUs, allowing each device to process different stages of a model simultaneously. This method requires careful synchronization to avoid bottlenecks but offers significant gains in memory efficiency-up to 90% reductions in memory consumption for deep networks. Implementing pipeline parallelism typically takes 2–4 weeks for teams familiar with distributed systems, depending on model complexity. Effort estimates break down as: