diff --git a/jetstream/core/orchestrator.py b/jetstream/core/orchestrator.py
index 04faa285..720c71bb 100644
--- a/jetstream/core/orchestrator.py
+++ b/jetstream/core/orchestrator.py
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ class Driver:
   # This can be a list because we can pass it as an arg to generate and
   # detokenize threads. It is a list of tokens to be detokenized.
   _detokenize_backlogs: list[queue.Queue[engine_api.ResultTokens]] = []
+  _prefill_detokenize_backlogs: list[queue.Queue[engine_api.ResultTokens]] = []
   _generate_slots: list[queue.Queue[int]] = []
   _active_requests: list[queue.Queue[tuple[int, ActiveRequest]]] = []
 
@@ -316,6 +317,12 @@ def __init__(
         queue.Queue(8)
         for _ in self._generate_engines
     ]
+    self._prefill_detokenize_backlogs = [
+        # We don't let detokenization accumulate more than 8 steps to avoid
+        # synchronization issues.
+        queue.Queue(8)
+        for _ in self._prefill_engines
+    ]
 
     # A queue of integers representing available 'slots' in the decode
     # operation. I.e. potentially available rows in the batch and/or microbatch.
@@ -376,12 +383,23 @@ def __init__(
         )
         for idx in range(len(self._generate_engines))
     ]
+    self.prefill_detokenize_threads = [
+        JetThread(
+            target=functools.partial(
+                self._prefill_detokenize_thread,
+                idx,
+            ),
+            name=f"prefill-detokenize-{idx}",
+        )
+        for idx in range(len(self._prefill_engines))
+    ]
     self._all_threads = list(
         itertools.chain(
             self._prefill_threads,
             self._transfer_threads,
             self._generate_threads,
             self.detokenize_threads,
+            self.prefill_detokenize_threads,
         )
     )
     self.live = True
@@ -514,12 +532,12 @@ def _prefill_thread(self, idx: int):
           padded_tokens=padded_tokens,
           true_length=true_length,
       )
-
+      first_token.copy_to_host_async()
       request.prefill_result = prefill_result
 
       # put first token to detokenize queue
       request.complete = np.zeros((prefill_engine.samples_per_slot,), np.bool_)
-      my_detokenize_backlog = self._detokenize_backlogs[idx]
+      my_detokenize_backlog = self._prefill_detokenize_backlogs[idx]
       my_detokenize_backlog.put(
           (first_token, request, request_start_time), block=True
       )
@@ -736,34 +754,13 @@ def _detokenize_thread(self, idx: int):
       if data is None:
         break
       start_detokenize_time = time.time()
-      # prefill first token
-      if isinstance(data[0], engine_api.ResultTokens):
-        request_first_token, request, request_start_time = data
-        request_first_token = request_first_token.convert_to_numpy()
-
-        results, complete = token_utils.process_result_tokens(
-            tokenizer=tokenizer,
-            slot=0,  # always 0 as prefill only run 1 sample
-            slot_max_length=request.max_tokens,
-            result_tokens=request_first_token,
-            is_client_side_tokenization=request.is_client_side_tokenization,
-            complete=request.complete,
-        )
-        request.complete = complete
-        # Return some output samples.
-        request.enqueue_samples(results)
-
-        first_token_return_time = time.perf_counter()
-        logging.info(
-            "TTFT duration: %fms",
-            (first_token_return_time - request_start_time) * 1000,
-        )
       # generate step tokens
-      elif isinstance(data[1], engine_api.ResultTokens):
+      if isinstance(data[1], engine_api.ResultTokens):
         # We want to detokenize them.
         generate_timestep_added, result_tokens = data
         # Disable attribute error because pytype doesn't know this
         # is a result tokens, and we can't annotate the tuple.
+        result_tokens = jax.block_until_ready(result_tokens)
         result_tokens = result_tokens.convert_to_numpy()
 
         for slot, request in my_live_requests.items():
@@ -795,6 +792,44 @@ def _detokenize_thread(self, idx: int):
         slot, active_request = data
         my_live_requests[slot] = active_request
 
+  def _prefill_detokenize_thread(self, idx: int):
+    """Detokenize the prefill token and returns it to the user."""
+    # We don't need to keep a my_live_requests list since the request is
+    # passed to tranfer then to generate. We could directly detokenize the
+    # first token from prefill and return it.
+    my_detokenize_backlog = self._prefill_detokenize_backlogs[idx]
+    my_prefill_engine = self._prefill_engines[idx]
+
+    metadata = my_prefill_engine.get_tokenizer()
+    tokenizer = my_prefill_engine.build_tokenizer(metadata)
+    while self.live:
+      data = my_detokenize_backlog.get(block=True)
+      if data is None:
+        break
+      # prefill first token
+      if isinstance(data[0], engine_api.ResultTokens):
+        request_first_token, request, request_start_time = data
+        request_first_token = jax.block_until_ready(request_first_token)
+        request_first_token = request_first_token.convert_to_numpy()
+
+        results, complete = token_utils.process_result_tokens(
+            tokenizer=tokenizer,
+            slot=0,  # always 0 as prefill only run 1 sample
+            slot_max_length=request.max_tokens,
+            result_tokens=request_first_token,
+            is_client_side_tokenization=request.is_client_side_tokenization,
+            complete=request.complete,
+        )
+        request.complete = complete
+        # Return some output samples.
+        request.enqueue_samples(results)
+
+        first_token_return_time = time.perf_counter()
+        logging.info(
+            "TTFT duration: %fms",
+            (first_token_return_time - request_start_time) * 1000,
+        )
+
 
 class LLMOrchestrator(jetstream_pb2_grpc.OrchestratorServicer):
   """Coordinates a set of prefill and generate slices for LLM decoding."""