TechnologyAugust 27, 2026

prefill

pree-FILL

Definition

In the context of AI large language models, the initial processing phase where the model consumes the input prompt to generate its internal hidden state representations.

Etymology

Derived from the English prefix 'pre-', meaning 'before' or 'in advance', and the verb 'fill', describing the initial action of populating the model's memory buffer or context before generation begins.

In the news

The article explains that while Qualcomm's HPC technology targets the memory-intensive decoding phase of AI processing, the prefill phase remains limited by raw compute power.

Qualcomm Targets AI Memory Bottleneck With HPC Technology Roadmap

Read the full article ↗

Yahoo Tech

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