What's this about?
trycua published a technical writeup on using GPU passthrough to macOS virtual machines to speed up local LLM inference with llama.cpp on Apple Silicon Macs.
What exactly is "GPU passthrough"?
Normally a virtual machine (a computer running inside your computer) can't fully use the host's graphics chip. GPU passthrough hands the real GPU directly to the VM so it runs at near-native speed. For local AI, that means you can run models inside an isolated macOS VM without paying a big performance penalty.
Why it matters
Running LLMs locally and in isolation is increasingly important for privacy and for safely sandboxing agents; getting near-native GPU speed inside a VM makes that far more practical on Macs.