TeCoP: Accelerating Diffusion Large Language Model Decoding via Tentative Context Pipelining

Overview & Synopsis

Diffusion large language models (dLLMs) predict multiple token positions per forward pass, yet block-wise decoders serialize generation and repeatedly recompute stable predictions. We attribute this inefficiency to coupling a prediction's readiness for irreversible commitment with its utility as context. We introduce Tentative Context Pipelining (TeCoP), a training-free decoder that decouples these roles through staggered block-parallel pipelining and draft-and-verify. TeCoP reuses stable but uncommitted predictions as provisional cross-block context, with commitment governed by confidence and stability checks. Across four LLaDA and Dream dLLMs on GSM8K, Minerva MATH, and MBPP, TeCoP reduces number of forward evaluations by up to 87% and achieves up to 7.50-fold throughput without KV caching and 11.77-fold with caching over the uncached original decoder. It outperforms Fast-dLLM and DSB in throughput across all 12 model-benchmark settings, with and without caching, while keeping average cached accuracy within one percentage point of the original decoder.