Deploy Meta Llama 3.1 405B on Google Cloud Vertex AI

AI Impact Summary

The content demonstrates programmatic deployment of Meta Llama 3.1 405B-Instruct-FP8 on Vertex AI using Text Generation Inference (TGI) with Hugging Face DLCs for real-time online predictions. Given the 405B model’s enormous VRAM needs, deployment will typically require an 8x H100-80GB A3 node or multi-node setup, making quota management and high hardware cost a critical gating factor. Access to the Meta Llama 3.1 models on Hugging Face is gated and requires approval, plus you must enable specific Vertex AI quotas for custom model serving in the relevant region. The approach hinges on exact DLC versions (TGI v2.2) and RoPE scaling differences, so production rollout will demand careful container compatibility and migration planning.