Exploring the Open Source AI Compute Tech Stack: Kubernetes, Ray, PyTorch, and vLLM

Terrill Dicki
Jun 12, 2025 10:04

Discover the components of a modern open-source AI compute tech stack, including Kubernetes, Ray, PyTorch, and vLLM, as utilized by leading companies like Pinterest, Uber, and Roblox.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, the complexity of software stacks for running and scaling AI workloads has significantly increased. As deep learning and generative AI continue to advance, industries are standardizing on common open-source tech stacks, according to Anyscale. This shift echoes the transition from Hadoop to Spark in big data analytics, with Kubernetes emerging as the standard for container orchestration and PyTorch dominating deep learning frameworks.

Key Components of the AI Compute Stack

The core components of a modern AI compute stack are Kubernetes, Ray, PyTorch, and vLLM. These open-source technologies form a robust infrastructure capable of handling the intense computational and data processing demands of AI applications. The stack is structured into three primary layers:

• Training and Inference Framework: This layer focuses on optimizing model performance on GPUs, including tasks like model compilation, memory management, and parallelism strategies. PyTorch, known for its versatility and efficiency, is the dominant framework here.
• Distributed Compute Engine: Ray serves as the backbone for scheduling tasks, managing data movement, and handling failures. It is particularly suited for Python-native and GPU-aware tasks, making it ideal for AI workloads.
• Container Orchestrator: Kubernetes allocates compute resources, manages job scheduling, and ensures multitenancy. It provides the flexibility needed to scale AI workloads efficiently across cloud environments.

Case Studies: Industry Adoption

Leading companies like Pinterest, Uber, and Roblox have adopted this tech stack to power their AI initiatives. Pinterest, for example, utilizes Kubernetes, Ray, PyTorch, and vLLM to enhance developer velocity and reduce costs. Their transition from Spark to Ray has significantly improved GPU utilization and training throughput.

Uber has also embraced this stack, integrating it into their Michelangelo ML platform. The combination of Ray and Kubernetes has enabled Uber to optimize their LLM training and evaluation processes, achieving notable throughput increases and cost efficiencies.

Roblox’s journey with AI infrastructure highlights the adaptability of the stack. Initially relying on Kubeflow and Spark, they transitioned to incorporating Ray and vLLM, resulting in substantial performance improvements and cost reductions for their AI workloads.

Future-Proofing AI Workloads

The adaptability of this tech stack is crucial for future-proofing AI workloads. It allows teams to seamlessly integrate new models, frameworks, and compute resources without extensive rearchitecting. This flexibility is vital as AI continues to evolve, ensuring that organizations can keep pace with technological advancements.

Overall, the standardization on Kubernetes, Ray, PyTorch, and vLLM is shaping the future of AI infrastructure. By leveraging these open-source tools, companies can build scalable, efficient, and adaptable AI applications, positioning themselves at the forefront of innovation in the AI landscape.

For more detailed insights, visit the original article on Anyscale.

Image source: Shutterstock