DeepSeek V4.1

Size
552B + 196B Engram
Published
DeepSeek · Sep 2026
Line
New parts in the block · after DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp
Source

deepseek‑ai/DeepSeek‑V4.1‑Flash @ 2cba9e4 · parameter count checked against the checkpoint’s tensor headers · text model onlyHow to read

Sparse attention

40 layers › 2 groups of 6 layers › 5 reusing layers › Compressed sparse attention › Sparse attention

Keys and values

×

tensorkv

Window rows followed by compressed rows; N counts both.

shape
YY [B batch, N rows, 512 d_h]
Sources

Contextual evidence from Join rows

Queries through the latent with their rotary part rotated; window and compressed keys and values joined; sparse attention over the listed positions; the output rotated back, projected per group of heads and then to the model width.

attention-forward · deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash / inference/model.py
Pinned revision 2cba9e42aa02 ↗ · lines 765–789

Read code excerpt
    def forward(self, x: torch.Tensor, start_pos: int):
        bsz, seqlen, _ = x.size()
        freqs_cis = self.freqs_cis[start_pos : start_pos + seqlen]
        rd = self.rope_head_dim

        qr = self.q_norm(self.wq_a(x))
        q = self.wq_b(qr).unflatten(-1, (self.n_local_heads, self.head_dim))
        apply_rotary_emb(q[..., -rd:], freqs_cis)

        kv, topk_idxs = self._window_kv(x, freqs_cis, start_pos)
        if self.compress_ratio:
            compress_kv, compress_idxs = self._compress_kv(x, qr, start_pos, kv.size(1))
            kv = torch.cat([kv, compress_kv], dim=1)
            topk_idxs = torch.cat([topk_idxs, compress_idxs], dim=-1)

        o = sparse_attn(q, kv, self.attn_sink, topk_idxs, self.softmax_scale)
        apply_rotary_emb(o[..., -rd:], freqs_cis, True)

        # wo_a is block-diagonal over groups (each projects only its own heads), hence einsum not
        # Linear. convert.py dequantizes it to bf16; an fp8 grouped GEMM would halve the memory.
        o = o.view(bsz, seqlen, self.n_local_groups, -1)
        wo_a = self.wo_a.weight.view(self.n_local_groups, self.o_lora_rank, -1)
        o = torch.einsum("bsgd,grd->bsgr", o, wo_a)
        x = self.wo_b(o.flatten(2))
        return x

Contextual evidence from Gather rows

Sparse attention: each query head scores the gathered key–value rows, the softmax has one more term in its denominator from the head’s learned sink, and the output is the weighted sum of the same rows.

sparse-attn · deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash / inference/kernel.py
Pinned revision 2cba9e42aa02 ↗ · lines 310–403

Read code excerpt
@tilelang.jit(pass_configs=pass_configs)
def sparse_attn_kernel(h: int, d: int, scale=None):
    """Sparse multi-head attention via index gathering + online softmax (FlashAttention-style).
    For each (batch, seq_pos), gathers top-k KV positions by index, computes attention
    with numerically stable running max/sum, and includes a learnable attn_sink bias."""
    b = T.symbolic("b")
    m = T.symbolic("m")
    n = T.symbolic("n")
    topk = T.symbolic("topk")
    if scale is None:
        scale = (1.0 / d) ** 0.5

    num_stages = 2
    threads = 256
    block = 64
    num_blocks = tilelang.cdiv(topk, block)

    @T.prim_func
    def sparse_attn_kernel_(
        q: T.Tensor[(b, m, h, d), BF16],
        kv: T.Tensor[(b, n, d), BF16],
        o: T.Tensor[(b, m, h, d), BF16],
        attn_sink: T.Tensor[(h,), FP32],
        topk_idxs: T.Tensor[(b, m, topk), INT32],
    ):
        with T.Kernel(m, b, threads=threads) as (bx, by):
            q_shared = T.alloc_shared((h, d), BF16)
            kv_shared = T.alloc_shared((block, d), BF16)
            o_shared = T.alloc_shared((h, d), BF16)
            acc_s_cast = T.alloc_shared((h, block), BF16)

            idxs = T.alloc_fragment(block, INT32)
            acc_s = T.alloc_fragment((h, block), FP32)
            acc_o = T.alloc_fragment((h, d), FP32)
            scores_max = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
            scores_max_prev = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
            scores_scale = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
            scores_sum = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
            sum_exp = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)

            T.clear(acc_o)
            T.clear(sum_exp)
            # Finite lower bound instead of -inf: a row with no valid index (all -1) would otherwise
            # produce exp(-inf - (-inf)) = NaN. With a finite bound such rows yield an all-zero output,
            # matching the training kernel's convention.
            T.fill(scores_max, -1e30)
            T.copy(q[by, bx, :, :], q_shared)

            for t in T.Pipelined(num_blocks, num_stages=num_stages):
                for i in T.Parallel(block):
                    idxs[i] = T.if_then_else(t * block + i < topk, topk_idxs[by, bx, t * block + i], -1)
                for i, j in T.Parallel(block, d):
                    kv_shared[i, j] = T.if_then_else(idxs[i] != -1, kv[by, idxs[i], j], 0)
                for i, j in T.Parallel(h, block):
                    acc_s[i, j] = T.if_then_else(idxs[j] != -1, 0, -T.infinity(FP32))
                T.gemm(q_shared, kv_shared, acc_s, transpose_B=True, policy=T.GemmWarpPolicy.FullRow)
                for i, j in T.Parallel(h, block):
                    acc_s[i, j] *= scale
                T.copy(scores_max, scores_max_prev)
                T.reduce_max(acc_s, scores_max, dim=1, clear=False)
                for i in T.Parallel(h):
                    scores_scale[i] = T.exp(scores_max_prev[i] - scores_max[i])
                for i, j in T.Parallel(h, block):
                    acc_s[i, j] = T.exp(acc_s[i, j] - scores_max[i])
                T.reduce_sum(acc_s, scores_sum, dim=1)
                for i in T.Parallel(h):
                    sum_exp[i] = sum_exp[i] * scores_scale[i] + scores_sum[i]
                T.copy(acc_s, acc_s_cast)
                for i, j in T.Parallel(h, d):
                    acc_o[i, j] *= scores_scale[i]
                T.gemm(acc_s_cast, kv_shared, acc_o, policy=T.GemmWarpPolicy.FullRow)

            for i in T.Parallel(h):
                sum_exp[i] += T.exp(attn_sink[i] - scores_max[i])
            for i, j in T.Parallel(h, d):
                acc_o[i, j] /= sum_exp[i]
            T.copy(acc_o, o_shared)
            T.copy(o_shared, o[by, bx, :, :])

    return sparse_attn_kernel_


def sparse_attn(q: torch.Tensor, kv: torch.Tensor, attn_sink: torch.Tensor, topk_idxs: torch.Tensor, softmax_scale: float) -> torch.Tensor:
    b, s, h, d = q.size()
    # Pad heads to 16 for kernel efficiency (stripped after)
    if h < 16:
        q = torch.cat([q, q.new_zeros(b, s, 16 - h, d)], dim=2)
        attn_sink = torch.cat([attn_sink, attn_sink.new_zeros(16 - h)])
    o = torch.empty_like(q)
    kernel = sparse_attn_kernel(q.size(2), d, softmax_scale)
    kernel(q, kv, o, attn_sink, topk_idxs)
    if h < 16:
        o = o.narrow(2, 0, h).contiguous()
    return o