LESSON 8.1 · Code Study · 150 min

MoE, MLA, and multi-token prediction

MoE, MLA, and multi-token prediction. Learn Mixture-of-Experts, routing, load balancing, MLA, and multi-token prediction and complete: Dissect DeepSeek-V3 activation, KV compressio

Learning objectives

  1. Explain what problem “MoE, MLA, and multi-token prediction” solves without hiding behind terminology.
  2. Trace the variables and causal links across Mixture-of-Experts, routing, load balancing.
  3. Complete “Dissect DeepSeek-V3 activation, KV compression, and objectives” and judge the result with evidence rather than intuition.

Core concepts

Mixture-of-Experts

Mixture-of-Experts is part of the lesson’s causal model. State its inputs, outputs, invariants, and failure mode; then verify it with a hand-check or a minimal experiment before moving to an optimized implementation.

routing

routing is part of the lesson’s causal model. State its inputs, outputs, invariants, and failure mode; then verify it with a hand-check or a minimal experiment.

load balancing

load balancing is part of the lesson’s causal model. State its inputs, outputs, invariants, and failure mode; then verify it with a hand-check or a minimal experiment.

MLA

MLA is part of the lesson’s causal model. State its inputs, outputs, invariants, and failure mode; then verify it with a hand-check or a minimal experiment.

and multi-token prediction

and multi-token prediction is part of the lesson’s causal model. State its inputs, outputs, invariants, and failure mode; then verify it with a hand-check or a minimal experiment.

Build and verify

Dissect DeepSeek-V3 activation, KV compression, and objectives

  • Predict: write the expected output, trend, or failure before running code.
  • Build: implement only the minimum components needed to answer the question.
  • Verify: compare with a baseline or trusted implementation; save seeds, parameters, and raw outputs.
  • Transfer: change one shape, dataset, scale, or workload condition and explain whether the conclusion still holds.

Open the complete interactive lesson