---
title: "Qwen3.6-35B-A3B"
metatags:
  description: "Deploy Qwen3.6-35B-A3B model with SGLang on Ascend NPUs, including single-node deployment modes."
---

## Introduction

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is a Mixture-of-Experts model in the Qwen3.6 series developed by Alibaba, featuring 35B total
parameters with 3B active parameters per token. It uses a hybrid architecture that combines Gated DeltaNet (linear,
O(n) complexity) with full attention applied every Nth layer, enabling efficient long-context modeling. The model
supports multimodal inputs (text, image, video) with long context lengths, and includes built-in multi-token prediction
(NEXTN) for speculative decoding. It delivers strong performance in instruction following, reasoning, text
comprehension, and tool usage.

This document demonstrates the deployment of Qwen3.6-35B-A3B on Ascend NPUs using SGLang, including single-node PD mixed
mode, feature configuration, and performance optimization.

This document is validated and written based on **SGLang v0.5.14**. The current model (Qwen3.6-35B-A3B) is fully supported
in this version. To use the latest features (e.g., speculative decoding / NEXTN, multimodal), use
**v0.5.14 or a later version**. Ascend images based on `v0.5.13(.post1)` can fail when NEXTN is enabled
(`NPUMHATokenToKVPool` missing `data_strides`).

## Supported features

| Feature                       | Example usage                                                                                 |
|-------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Tensor Parallelism            | `--tp-size 2`                                                                                 |
| Chunked Prefill               | auto based on device memory, or set explicit value;<br/>disable with `--chunked-prefill-size -1`; e.g., `--chunked-prefill-size 16384` |
| NPU Graph                     | enabled by default; disable with `--disable-cuda-graph`;<br/>control range via `--cuda-graph-bs` or `--cuda-graph-max-bs-decode`; e.g., `--cuda-graph-bs 4 8 16 24 32 48 64 80 96 112 120` |
| Speculative Decoding          | `--speculative-algorithm NEXTN \`<br/>`--speculative-num-steps 3 \`<br/>`--speculative-eagle-topk 1 \`<br/>`--speculative-num-draft-tokens 4` |
| Overlap Schedule              | `export SGLANG_ENABLE_OVERLAP_PLAN_STREAM=1`                                                  |

<Note>
The values in the **Example usage** column are for illustration only. Adjust them according to your hardware, deployment
mode, and workload. For parameter details, see
[Feature descriptions](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/ascend_npu_optimization#feature-descriptions); for
recommended configurations for each deployment scenario, see [Best practices](#best-practices).
</Note>

For feature compatibility and conflict information between features,
see [Feature Compatibility](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/ascend_npu_optimization#feature-compatibility).

## Prerequisites

### Environment

Before following this tutorial, complete the environment setup in the documents below:

- [Ascend NPU Quickstart](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/ascend_npu_quick_start) — the fastest way to get started.
  It walks you through launching the official container image, starting the SGLang server, and sending a test request.
  Recommended if you are new to SGLang on Ascend.
- [SGLang Installation with NPU Support](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/ascend_npu) — the full installation guide.
  It covers the component version mapping (CANN, TorchNPU, Triton, kernels, etc.), building from source or from a
  Dockerfile, and recommended system settings (CPU power scheme, NUMA, swap). Use it when you need to install or customize
  the environment instead of using the official image.

### Model weights

Before downloading model weights, check the model size to reserve enough disk space.
For multi-node deployment, download the weights to a shared directory accessible to all nodes.

- [Eco-Tech/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-w8a8](https://www.modelscope.cn/models/Eco-Tech/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-w8a8) (W8A8 quantized version, 39.81GB)

<Info>
The W8A8 variant (39.81GB) fits within a single 64GB die. For single-node deployment, `--tp-size 1` is sufficient on either A2 or A3.
</Info>

This is the minimum recommended configuration. For optimized configurations,
see [Best practices](#best-practices), which may require additional cards or nodes.

For the hardware specifications (memory per die, dies per card, and the difference between A2 and A3),
see [Ascend NPU Reference — Hardware](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/ascend_npu_reference#hardware).

## Installation

<Warning>
Ensure sufficient disk space before pulling images. The Docker image requires at least **30GB** of free space.
</Warning>

The dependencies required for the NPU runtime environment have been integrated into a Docker image and uploaded to the
online platform. You can directly pull it.

Both **stable releases** and **daily builds** are available. The following command is based on the stable release tag.
For details, see [Docker image versions](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/ascend_npu_faq#8-docker-image-versions-stable-release-vs-daily-build).

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Atlas 800I A3">

```bash Command
docker pull quay.io/ascend/sglang:v0.5.14-cann9.0.0-a3

docker run -itd --shm-size=16g --name ${NAME} \
--privileged=true --net=host \
-v /var/queue_schedule:/var/queue_schedule \
-v /etc/ascend_install.info:/etc/ascend_install.info \
-v /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/sbin \
-v /usr/local/Ascend/driver:/usr/local/Ascend/driver \
-v /usr/local/Ascend/firmware:/usr/local/Ascend/firmware \
--device=/dev/davinci0:/dev/davinci0  \
--device=/dev/davinci1:/dev/davinci1  \
--device=/dev/davinci2:/dev/davinci2  \
--device=/dev/davinci3:/dev/davinci3  \
--device=/dev/davinci4:/dev/davinci4  \
--device=/dev/davinci5:/dev/davinci5  \
--device=/dev/davinci6:/dev/davinci6  \
--device=/dev/davinci7:/dev/davinci7  \
--device=/dev/davinci8:/dev/davinci8  \
--device=/dev/davinci9:/dev/davinci9  \
--device=/dev/davinci10:/dev/davinci10  \
--device=/dev/davinci11:/dev/davinci11  \
--device=/dev/davinci12:/dev/davinci12  \
--device=/dev/davinci13:/dev/davinci13  \
--device=/dev/davinci14:/dev/davinci14  \
--device=/dev/davinci15:/dev/davinci15  \
--device=/dev/davinci_manager:/dev/davinci_manager \
--device=/dev/hisi_hdc:/dev/hisi_hdc \
--entrypoint=bash \
quay.io/ascend/sglang:v0.5.14-cann9.0.0-a3
```

  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Atlas 800I A2">

```bash Command
docker pull quay.io/ascend/sglang:v0.5.14-cann9.0.0-910b

docker run -itd --shm-size=16g --name ${NAME} \
--privileged=true --net=host \
-v /var/queue_schedule:/var/queue_schedule \
-v /etc/ascend_install.info:/etc/ascend_install.info \
-v /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/sbin \
-v /usr/local/Ascend/driver:/usr/local/Ascend/driver \
-v /usr/local/Ascend/firmware:/usr/local/Ascend/firmware \
--device=/dev/davinci0:/dev/davinci0  \
--device=/dev/davinci1:/dev/davinci1  \
--device=/dev/davinci2:/dev/davinci2  \
--device=/dev/davinci3:/dev/davinci3  \
--device=/dev/davinci4:/dev/davinci4  \
--device=/dev/davinci5:/dev/davinci5  \
--device=/dev/davinci6:/dev/davinci6  \
--device=/dev/davinci7:/dev/davinci7  \
--device=/dev/davinci_manager:/dev/davinci_manager \
--device=/dev/hisi_hdc:/dev/hisi_hdc \
--entrypoint=bash \
quay.io/ascend/sglang:v0.5.14-cann9.0.0-910b
```

  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Tip>
- If the model weights have already been downloaded to a shared directory, use `-v` to mount the model path into the
  container, for example: `-v /path/to/models:/models`.
- Replace `${NAME}` with your own container name or remove `--name` to use default name.
</Tip>

## Online service deployment

### Single-node online deployment

Single-node deployment completes both prefill and decode within the same node (PD mixed mode), suitable for scenarios
with limited hardware resources. This scenario is already covered in the best practice. For the complete, optimized
deployment commands and benchmark data, see
[Qwen3.6-35B-A3B Best Practice — PD Mixed On A3](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/best_practice/qwen3_6_35b_a3b#single-node-pd-mixed).

## Functional verification

After the service is started, you can invoke the model by sending a prompt:

```shell
# ============================================================
# Before running, update the following variables:
#   HOST: the server host address (e.g., localhost)
#   PORT: the server port number (e.g., 6688)
# ============================================================

curl http://${HOST}:${PORT}/generate \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{
        "text": "What is the capital of France?",
        "sampling_params": {
            "max_new_tokens": 64,
            "temperature": 0
        }
    }'
```

Expected result: an HTTP 200 response with the generated text containing "Paris".

For multimodal requests (text + image):

```shell
# ============================================================
# Before running, update the following variables:
#   HOST: the server host address (e.g., localhost)
#   PORT: the server port number (e.g., 6688)
# ============================================================

curl http://${HOST}:${PORT}/v1/chat/completions \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{
        "model": "Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-w8a8",
        "messages": [
            {
                "role": "user",
                "content": [
                    {"type": "image_url", "image_url": {"url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sgl-project/sglang/main/examples/assets/example_image.png"}},
                    {"type": "text", "text": "Describe this image."}
                ]
            }
        ]
    }'
```

Expected result: an HTTP 200 response with a description of the image.

Once the server prints `The server is fired up and ready to roll!` in the logs, it is ready to accept requests. For more
testing examples (Health Check, Generate, Chat Completions, and port usage guidance),
see [Testing the Service](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/ascend_npu#testing-the-service).

## Accuracy evaluation

For accuracy evaluation methods and datasets, see [Accuracy Evaluation on Ascend NPU](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/ascend_npu_accuracy_evaluation).

## Performance

For performance data and benchmark commands, see [Performance Testing on Ascend NPU](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/ascend_npu_performance_testing).

## Best practices

### Best practice configuration reference

For complete optimal configurations with deployment scripts and benchmark commands, see the
[Qwen3.6-35B-A3B Best Practice](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/best_practice/qwen3_6_35b_a3b) page.

## Performance tuning

For the full list of supported features, see [Supported features](#supported-features). For detailed optimization
guidance, see [Optimization on Ascend NPU](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/ascend_npu_optimization).

## FAQ

For common environment, installation, and general parameter issues, please refer to the [Ascend NPU FAQ](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/ascend_npu_faq).
