Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for configuring a Quantum Annealing (QA) device. Then QA device has a plurality of qubits and a plurality of couplers at overlapping intersections of the qubits. The method includes mapping a node of a neural network that have a plurality of nodes and connections between the nodes to a qubit in the QA device, and mapping a connection of the neural network to a coupler at an intersection in the QA device where two qubits corresponding to two nodes connected by the connection intersect. The method further includes mapping a node of the neural network to a chain of qubits. In an embodiment, a coupling between qubits in the chain is configured to be a ferromagnetic coupling in order to map the node of the neural network to the chain of qubits.