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How do you overlap communication with computation in distributed training, and how do you verify it works?

The collective communication in distributed training is pure overhead unless it runs while the GPU computes. Hiding it is the difference between 30% and 55% MFU. Here is how the overlap actually works and how you confirm it on a trace.

Updated Aug 2026 · Grounded in real Applied AI Engineer interview loops and written to a senior-engineer editorial bar.

The collective communication in distributed training is pure overhead unless it runs while the GPU computes. Hiding it is the difference between 30% and 55% MFU. Here is how the overlap actually works and how you confirm it on a trace.

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