diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 624f1bd5..91869851 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -319,6 +319,12 @@ COPY --from=router-builder /usr/local/cargo/bin/text-generation-router /usr/loca
 # Install launcher
 COPY --from=launcher-builder /usr/local/cargo/bin/text-generation-launcher /usr/local/bin/text-generation-launcher
 
+# Install cufile.so, libnuma.so, and fastsafetensors
+RUN dnf config-manager \
+       --add-repo https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/rhel9/x86_64/cuda-rhel9.repo \
+    && dnf install -y libcufile-12-1 numactl-libs
+RUN pip install -v fastsafetensors==0.1.1 --no-cache-dir
+
 ENV PORT=3000 \
     GRPC_PORT=8033 \
     HOME=/home/tgis
@@ -327,7 +333,7 @@ ENV PORT=3000 \
 RUN chmod -R g+rwx ${HOME}
 
 # Temporary for dev
-RUN chmod -R g+w ${SITE_PACKAGES}/text_generation_server /usr/src /usr/local/bin
+RUN chmod -R g+w ${SITE_PACKAGES}/text_generation_server /usr/src /usr/local/bin ${SITE_PACKAGES}/fastsafetensors
 
 # Run as non-root user by default
 USER tgis
diff --git a/server/text_generation_server/inference_engine/tgis_native.py b/server/text_generation_server/inference_engine/tgis_native.py
index 86291815..fbd0ab02 100644
--- a/server/text_generation_server/inference_engine/tgis_native.py
+++ b/server/text_generation_server/inference_engine/tgis_native.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from transformers.models.auto.auto_factory import _BaseAutoModelClass
 
 from text_generation_server.models import FLASH_ATTENTION, PAGED_ATTENTION
-from text_generation_server.utils import Weights
+from text_generation_server.utils import Weights, FastWeights
 
 from text_generation_server.inference_engine import BaseInferenceEngine
 from text_generation_server.utils.dist import initialize_torch_distributed
@@ -123,9 +123,15 @@ def __init__(
         if not filenames:
             raise ValueError("No safetensors weights found - required for tgis_native engine")
 
-        weights = Weights(
-            filenames, device=self.device, dtype=dtype, process_group=self.process_group, aliases=aliases
-        )
+        use_fst = os.getenv("USE_FST")
+        if use_fst is not None and use_fst == "1":
+            weights = FastWeights(
+                filenames, device=self.device, dtype=dtype, pg=self.process_group, aliases=aliases,
+            )
+        else:
+            weights = Weights(
+                filenames, device=self.device, dtype=dtype, process_group=self.process_group, aliases=aliases
+            )
 
         if quantize == "gptq":
             weights._set_gptq_params(model_config, model_path)
diff --git a/server/text_generation_server/utils/__init__.py b/server/text_generation_server/utils/__init__.py
index a4f4d28d..6b48e1c4 100644
--- a/server/text_generation_server/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/server/text_generation_server/utils/__init__.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
     RANK,
 )
 from text_generation_server.utils.weights import Weights
+from text_generation_server.utils.fastweight import FastWeights
 from text_generation_server.utils.hub import (
     get_model_path,
     local_weight_files,
diff --git a/server/text_generation_server/utils/fastweight.py b/server/text_generation_server/utils/fastweight.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0686a1c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/text_generation_server/utils/fastweight.py
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+# Copyright 2024 IBM Inc. All rights reserved
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+import os
+import glob
+import torch
+import torch.distributed as dist
+from typing import List, Optional, Dict, Tuple
+
+def get_config(device_index: int) -> Tuple[bool, int, int]:
+    auto_config = os.getenv("FST_CONFIG", "auto")
+    nogds = os.getenv("FST_NOGDS") # disable GDS if FST_NOGDS==1
+    nogds = nogds is not None and nogds == "1"
+    max_copier_threads = int(os.getenv("FST_THREADS", "16"))           # number of copy threads at host CPU
+    bbuf_size_kb_total = int(os.getenv("FST_BBUF_SIZE_KB", "163840")) # size of bounce buffer at host memory for FST_NOGDS==1
+    if auto_config == "auto":
+        nogds = not os.path.exists("/run/udev") # udev directory is required for GDS
+        from fastsafetensors.common import get_device_numa_node
+        node = get_device_numa_node(device_index)
+        total_l2_size = 0
+        phys_cpus = {}
+        failed = False
+        for cpudir in glob.glob(f"/sys/devices/system/node/node{node}/cpu[0-9]*"):
+            try:
+                with open(f"{cpudir}/cache/index2/size") as f: # L2 cache size for a cpu
+                    size_str = f.read().strip()
+                    if size_str[-1] != "K":
+                        raise Exception(f"cannot parse {cpudir}/cache/index2/size")
+                    total_l2_size += int(size_str[:-1])
+                with open(f"{cpudir}/topology/core_id") as f: # physical core ID
+                    phys_cpus[f.read().strip()] = True
+            except Exception as e:
+                failed = True
+                print(f"Failed to auto-configure fastsafetensors. reason: {e}")
+                break
+        if not failed and total_l2_size > 0:
+            bbuf_size_kb_total = total_l2_size
+        if not failed and len(phys_cpus) > 0:
+            max_copier_threads = len(phys_cpus)
+    return (nogds, max_copier_threads, bbuf_size_kb_total)
+
+class FastWeights:
+    def __init__(self, filenames:List[str],
+                 device: torch.device,
+                 dtype: torch.dtype,
+                 pg: dist.ProcessGroup,
+                 debug_log: bool=False,
+                 aliases: Optional[Dict[str, List[str]]] = None,
+                 prefix: Optional[str] = None,
+            ):
+        from fastsafetensors.loader import SafeTensorsFileLoader
+        (nogds, max_copier_threads, bbuf_size_kb_total) = get_config(device.index)
+        self._loader = SafeTensorsFileLoader(pg, device, bbuf_size_kb=bbuf_size_kb_total//pg.size(), max_threads=max_copier_threads, nogds=nogds, debug_log=debug_log)
+        rank_filenames: Dict[str, List[str]] = {rank: [] for rank in range(0, pg.size())}
+        max_copy_block_size = 1
+        total_size = 0
+        for idx, filename in enumerate(sorted(filenames, key=lambda x: os.path.basename(x))):
+            rank_filenames[idx % pg.size()].append(filename)
+            s = os.stat(filename)
+            total_size += s.st_size
+            if max_copy_block_size < s.st_size:
+                max_copy_block_size = s.st_size
+        self._loader.add_filenames(rank_filenames)
+        if len(filenames) < max_copier_threads:
+            max_copy_block_size = total_size // pg.size() // max_copier_threads
+            if max_copy_block_size % bbuf_size_kb_total*1024 > 0:
+                max_copy_block_size = max_copy_block_size - max_copy_block_size % (bbuf_size_kb_total*1024) + (bbuf_size_kb_total*1024)
+        msg = f"Fastsafetensors configuration: GDS={not nogds}, maximum number of file copy threads={max_copier_threads}, copy block size={max_copy_block_size}B"
+        if nogds:
+            msg += f", total bounce buffer size={bbuf_size_kb_total * 1024}B"
+        print(msg)
+        self._fb = self._loader.copy_files_to_device(dtype, max_copy_block_size=max_copy_block_size)
+        self.device = device
+        self.dtype = dtype
+        if aliases is None:
+            aliases = {}
+        self.prefix = prefix
+        self.aliases = aliases
+        self.process_group = pg
+
+    def close(self):
+        self._fb.close()
+        self._loader.close()
+        torch.cuda.empty_cache()
+
+    def _get_alias(self, tensor_name: str)->str:
+        if self._fb.get_filename(tensor_name) is None:
+            for alias in self.aliases[tensor_name]:
+                if self._fb.get_filename(alias) is not None:
+                    return alias
+            raise RuntimeError(f"weight {tensor_name} does not exist")
+        return tensor_name
+
+    def get_shape(self, tensor_name: str)->torch.Size:
+        return self._fb.get_shape(self._get_alias(tensor_name))
+
+    def get_tensor(self, tensor_name: str)->torch.Tensor:
+        return self._fb.get_tensor(self._get_alias(tensor_name), device=self.device, dtype=self.dtype)
+
+    def push_tensor(self, tensor_name: str, dst_rank: int)->torch.Tensor:
+        return self._fb.push_tensor(self._get_alias(tensor_name), dst_rank, device=self.device, dtype=self.dtype)
+
+    def get_partial_sharded(self, tensor_name: str, dim: int)->torch.Tensor:
+        return self._fb.get_sharded(self._get_alias(tensor_name), dim, device=self.device, dtype=self.dtype)
+
+    def get_sharded(self, tensor_name: str, dim: int=1)->torch.Tensor:
+        return self._fb.get_sharded(self._get_alias(tensor_name), dim, device=self.device, dtype=self.dtype)
+
+    def get_multi_weights_col(self, prefixes: List[str], quantize: str, dim: int)->torch.Tensor:
+        if quantize in ["gptq", "awq"]:
+            raise NotImplementedError("Quantization is not supported yet")
+        tensor_names = [self._get_alias(f"{prefix}.weight") for prefix in prefixes]
+        return self._fb.get_multi_cols(tensor_names, dim, device=self.device, dtype=self.dtype)
+
+    def get_multi_weights_row(self, prefix: str, quantize: str)->torch.Tensor:
+        if quantize in ["gptq", "awq"]:
+            raise NotImplementedError("Quantization is not supported yet")
+        return self._fb.get_sharded(self._get_alias(f"{prefix}.weight"), 1, device=self.device, dtype=self.dtype)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/server/text_generation_server/utils/layers.py b/server/text_generation_server/utils/layers.py
index 312f4d5d..5081874f 100644
--- a/server/text_generation_server/utils/layers.py
+++ b/server/text_generation_server/utils/layers.py
@@ -305,11 +305,14 @@ def __init__(self, linear, process_group):
     @classmethod
     def load(cls, config, prefix: str, weights, bias: bool):
         weight = weights.get_multi_weights_row(prefix, quantize=config.quantize)
-        if bias and weights.process_group.rank() == 0:
-            # Rank is only on the first rank process
-            bias = weights.get_tensor(f"{prefix}.bias")
+        if hasattr(weights, "push_tensor"):
+            bias = weights.push_tensor(f"{prefix}.bias", 0) if bias else None
         else:
-            bias = None
+            if bias and weights.process_group.rank() == 0:
+                # Rank is only on the first rank process
+                bias = weights.get_tensor(f"{prefix}.bias")
+            else:
+                bias = None
         return cls(
             get_linear(weight, bias, config.quantize),
             process_group=weights.process_group,