Characterizing Job Power Elasticity for Power-Flexible AI Training
Updated 2 h ago · first seen 12 Sept 2026
paper_01M29X34PACMAZXTTJFBCQH7EM
- Published
- 12 Sept 2026
- T1 · 2 h ago
- arXiv
- 2609.11542
- T1 · 2 h ago
- Category
- cs.AI
- T1 · 2 h ago
Abstract
Large language model (LLM) training is among the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand in modern data centers, and power availability is a primary bottleneck to continued AI infrastructure growth. Making the power consumption of these workloads flexible could unlock additional power for AI growth, limit increases in electricity prices, and improve the utilization of existing grid infrastructure. However, to realize this flexibility, we must first understand how the performance of training workloads changes when GPU power is reduced. This paper presents the first systematic characterization of \emph{job power elasticity} (the sensitivity of throughput to power reductions) in LLM training. To quantify elasticity, we introduce the \emph{Power Flexibility Index (PFI)}, a normalized metric that quantifies the performance cost of power reductions and provides a control primitive for SLA-aware power flexibility. We collect data from 131 LLM training runs on H200 (plus 24 H200 validation runs and 34 matched H100 runs), including both dense and mixture-of-experts models, pretraining and fine-tuning tasks, and up to 32 GPUs. We find that LLM training jobs exhibit substantial but variable power elasticity, and we identify telemetry signals that predict PFI at runtime. Finally, we demonstrate that PFI-aware power allocation maximizes total tokens/second throughput under power constraints. Under a 30\% power reduction, PFI-aware power allocation recovers ~1.5k tokens/s per job, 63\% of the performance gap between an equal-weight allocation and an oracle with perfect information. Our results establish power elasticity as a measurable property of training jobs and provide a foundation for power-aware, grid-responsive AI infrastructure.
Authors 5
Ayse Coskun, Charles Dawson, Philip Colangelo, Shayan Sengupta, Varun Sivaram
Specification
- Official page
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh
- Arxiv announce type
- new
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh
- arXiv id
- 2609.11542
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh
- Categories
- cs.AI
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh
- Primary category
- cs.AI
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh
- Published
- 12 Sept 2026
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 2 h agohigh
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Claim history · Abstract
Abstractabstract1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large language model (LLM) training is among the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand in modern data centers, and power availability is a primary bottleneck to continued AI infrastructure growth. Making the power consumption of these workloads flexible could unlock additional power for AI growth, limit increases in electricity prices, and improve the utilization of existing grid infrastructure. However, to realize this flexibility, we must first understand how the performance of training workloads changes when GPU power is reduced. This paper presents the first systematic characterization of \emph{job power elasticity} (the sensitivity of throughput to power reductions) in LLM training. To quantify elasticity, we introduce the \emph{Power Flexibility Index (PFI)}, a normalized metric that quantifies the performance cost of power reductions and provides a control primitive for SLA-aware power flexibility. We collect data from 131 LLM training runs on H200 (plus 24 H200 validation runs and 34 matched H100 runs), including both dense and mixture-of-experts models, pretraining and fine-tuning tasks, and up to 32 GPUs. We find that LLM training jobs exhibit substantial but variable power elasticity, and we identify telemetry signals that predict PFI at runtime. Finally, we demonstrate that PFI-aware power allocation maximizes total tokens/second throughput under power constraints. Under a 30\% power reduction, PFI-aware power allocation recovers ~1.5k tokens/s per job, 63\% of the performance gap between an equal-weight allocation and an oracle with perfect information. Our results establish power elasticity as a measurable property of training jobs and provide a foundation for power-aware, grid-responsive AI infrastructure. | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Claims are temporal and append-only: a new observation closes the previous claim (valid_to) instead of overwriting it. Conflicting claims from different sources are kept side by side and flagged — never averaged. Methodology →
New paper: Characterizing Job Power Elasticity for Power-Flexible AI Training
arxiv
| Source | Document | Type | Tier | Last observed | Snapshots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| arXiv (Atom API + RSS) | rss.arxiv.org/rss/cs.AI | feed | T1· Official | 2 h ago | 2 |
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