The hidden cost of agents is KV cache: DeepSeek compresses to ~890 bytes per token
altryne · x · 2026-09-12
Chris Alexiuk points out that the quiet cost lever for agents is the KV cache — cache hits vs misses make up most of the bill. DeepSeek's compression path gets it down to 890 bytes per token, keeping more context hot without burning GPU, which is key to affordable long-context agent inference.
Related event: Agent Costs Hinge on KV Cache; Failed Subtitle Edit Sparks AGI Skepticism(2 posts)→
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