# Vertical Small LLMs: A Deep Dive

DevFeed: [Vertical Small LLMs: A Deep Dive](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/vertical-small-llms-a-deep-dive-17913.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://newsletter.systemdesign.one/p/fine-tuning-small-language-models>)

Author: Neo Kim

Published: 2026-08-03T10:27:31Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [System Design Newsletter](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/system-design-newsletter.md>)

Topics: [Large Language Model](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/llm.md>)

Tags: [build](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/build.md>), [deep-dive](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/deep-dive.md>), [how-to](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/how-to.md>), [llms](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/llms.md>), [model](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/model.md>), [models](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/models.md>), [parameter](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/parameter.md>)

## AI overview

A deep dive into vertical small language models, including how a fine-tuned 3-billion-parameter model can outperform frontier models for a specific job and how to build one.

## Source excerpt

#166: How a fine-tuned 3-billion-parameter model beats today's frontier models at one job, and how to build one this weekend