Chicago, April 23, 2026, 16:04 CDT
Tempus AI, Inc. on Thursday announced it’s teaming up with the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Keck Medicine of USC, setting the stage for its molecular testing, AI-powered care-gap analysis, and trial-matching tools to roll out across a major Southern California health system. The deal brings these technologies to USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck Hospital of USC, USC Verdugo Hills, plus other USC hospitals and clinics.
The timing is key here: the deal pushes Tempus further into everyday hospital routines, going beyond just lab work or licensing out its data. USC says this setup targets more than 1.5 million patient visits each year, with a focus on using broad clinical datasets to personalize care—the brass tacks of precision medicine, where treatment gets matched to a patient’s tumor profile, genes, and medical record.
The timing comes just shy of two weeks ahead of the next investor update. Tempus plans to release first-quarter numbers on May 5, with founder and CEO Eric Lefkofsky joined by CFO Jim Rogers on the call.
No bounce for the stock. Tempus settled 7.3% down at $51.44 on Nasdaq, and after the bell, shares ticked up to $51.68 as of 5 p.m. EDT, according to MarketScreener data.
The partnership is built around four core initiatives: clinical testing; automating the process of connecting patients with clinical trials via Tempus’ TIME Trial Program; AI-driven care-gap pathways that catch missed or overdue steps in guideline-based care; and collaborative research aimed at developing new diagnostics and therapeutic tools. Molecular diagnostics, for their part, detect genetic or biological markers linked to disease.
Vasiliki Anest, chief innovation officer at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, said the collaboration lines up “research, clinical care and innovation priorities.” Steven Shapiro, USC’s senior vice president for health affairs, noted the deal could steer patients toward “the most appropriate clinical trials and treatments.” Ezra Cohen, chief medical officer for oncology at Tempus, said the organizations have a shot at creating an “integrated ecosystem,” tying Tempus’s AI platform to USC’s clinical and research operations. Keck School of Medicine of USC
Tempus, coming off a year of rapid expansion, booked $1.27 billion in revenue for 2025—a jump of 83.4%. Diagnostics brought in $955.4 million, while data and applications contributed $316.4 million. Still, the company ended the year with a net loss of $245.0 million.
Tempus is projecting revenue of roughly $1.59 billion in 2026, with adjusted EBITDA expected to land near $65 million—a figure that strips out interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and some other costs. Those targets mean deals such as USC can’t just be trophies. They need to drive usage, add contracts, or expand data scale.
The agreement ratchets up Tempus’ battle for a slice of the cancer-genomics market. According to Reuters, Tempus goes head-to-head with Roche’s Foundation Medicine and Guardant Health in the genomic diagnostics space. Guardant took Tempus to court this year, filing a DNA-testing patent lawsuit—a sign of just how fierce the race for dominance in blood-based cancer testing has become.
But there’s still no word on the financial details. The announcements stop short of clarifying how soon USC clinicians might use these workflows, what reimbursement will look like, or whether trial matching will actually deliver revenue. For its part, Tempus described the anticipated benefits from USC as forward-looking, pointing out risks tied to keeping customers, rising costs, rivals, fresh competition, and changing rules for AI.
Right now, it’s straightforward: greater hospital adoption brings in more clinical and molecular data. That data sharpens the company’s tools and trial-matching abilities, which in turn can lead to deeper contracts—assuming hospitals actually use those tools. Investors’ appetite for this approach gets tested with the May 5 report.
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