Quantum AI Report

The convergence of Quantum with AI

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private research university in Los Angeles, not a quantum computing vendor. Its Information Sciences Institute established the USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center in 2011, which housed D-Wave Systems' superconducting flux-qubit annealing processors (a D-Wave One, later a 512-qubit D-Wave Two) and provided access to outside researchers. Quantum work across the university is coordinated through its Center for Quantum Information Science and Technology, spanning physics, electrical engineering and computer science.

AI-written profile · not yet reviewed · 16 September 2026

Headquarters
Los Angeles, California, USA
Status
Private
annealing

Coverage

The Quantum Insider

Quantum Elements and USC Demonstrate Surface Code Scaling on IBM Heron

Quantum Elements and USC announced a Nature Communications paper reporting that the surface code can strengthen error protection on IBM Heron processors even when the chip's native qubit connectivity does not naturally match the code's standard layout. The work demonstrates scaling of surface code error correction on deployed superconducting hardware.

OutlookPlausible

If the demonstrated surface-code scaling holds at larger code distances, existing IBM Heron-class processors could host early logical qubits within two years without needing hardware redesigned around the code's native layout.

error correctionsuperconductingIBMQuantum ElementsUniversity of Southern California