diff --git a/torchao/prototype/mx_formats/custom_cast.py b/torchao/prototype/mx_formats/custom_cast.py
index cda946e285..8e3a1a4be1 100644
--- a/torchao/prototype/mx_formats/custom_cast.py
+++ b/torchao/prototype/mx_formats/custom_cast.py
@@ -12,20 +12,13 @@
     _f32_to_floatx_unpacked,
     _floatx_unpacked_to_f32,
 )
-from torchao.utils import TORCH_VERSION_AT_LEAST_2_4
-
-# TODO(future): if needed, make the below work on previous PyTorch versions,
-# just need to hunt down the previous location of `libdevice`. An assert
-# at the callsite prevents usage of this on unsupported versions.
-if TORCH_VERSION_AT_LEAST_2_4 and has_triton():
-    from torch._inductor.runtime.triton_helpers import libdevice
-
 from torchao.prototype.mx_formats.constants import (
     E8M0_EXPONENT_BIAS,
     E8M0_EXPONENT_NAN_VAL,
     F4_E2M1_EXP_BIAS,
     F32_EXP_BIAS,
 )
+from torchao.utils import TORCH_VERSION_AT_LEAST_2_4
 
 
 def get_bits(x: torch.Tensor) -> str:
@@ -294,8 +287,8 @@ def triton_f4_to_scaled_bf16_kernel(
         s = tl.load(s_ptr + offsets_s, mask=mask_s)
 
         # create the scale in bf16
-        s_offset = s.to(tl.int16) - e8m0_exponent_bias
-        s_fp = libdevice.pow(2.0, s_offset).to(tl.bfloat16)
+        # S is already biased by 127, so we just have to shift it to align w/ bf16
+        s_fp = (s.to(tl.uint16) << 7).to(tl.bfloat16, bitcast=True)
         s_fp = tl.where(s != e8m0_exponent_nan_val, s_fp, float("nan"))
 
         # multiply output by scale
diff --git a/torchao/prototype/mx_formats/mx_tensor.py b/torchao/prototype/mx_formats/mx_tensor.py
index 2e67f5a4ac..a40df3e6f6 100644
--- a/torchao/prototype/mx_formats/mx_tensor.py
+++ b/torchao/prototype/mx_formats/mx_tensor.py
@@ -127,10 +127,7 @@ def to_mx(
 
     # For now, calculate the scale in floating point.
     # TODO(future) audit if there is a need to bit shift exponents instead.
-    scale_fp = torch.pow(
-        torch.full(max_abs.size(), 2.0, device=scale_e8m0_biased.device),
-        scale_e8m0_unbiased,
-    )
+    scale_fp = torch.exp2(scale_e8m0_unbiased).to(torch.float32)
 
     # Today, 2**-127 returns 0 in compile+inductor+triton because it is in the
     # float32 denormal range. For now, manually adjust the fp scale. This is
@@ -176,14 +173,10 @@ def to_mx(
 
 
 def get_fp_scale(scale_e8m0):
-    s_offset = scale_e8m0.to(torch.int16) - E8M0_EXPONENT_BIAS
-    # TODO(later): it would be nice if there was a way to do the 2^x operation
-    # in PyTorch without creating a tensor of twos
-    two = torch.full(s_offset.size(), 2.0, device=scale_e8m0.device)
-    # pow(two, s_offset) can be out of range of floating point formats.
     # TODO(later): handle this for float16 if we decide to support float16
     # scales.
-    s_fp = torch.pow(two, s_offset)
+    s_offset = scale_e8m0.to(torch.int16) - E8M0_EXPONENT_BIAS
+    s_fp = torch.exp2(s_offset)
 
     # If a block exponent was 255, set values of that block to NaN
     s_fp = torch.where(scale_e8m0 != E8M0_EXPONENT_NAN_VAL, s_fp, float("nan"))