diff --git a/arch/arm64/src/qemu/qemu_boot.c b/arch/arm64/src/qemu/qemu_boot.c
index 4686c60b24c..4eb75f16e2e 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/src/qemu/qemu_boot.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/src/qemu/qemu_boot.c
@@ -190,4 +190,8 @@ void arm64_chip_boot(void)
 #ifdef CONFIG_SYSLOG_RPMSG
   syslog_rpmsg_init_early(g_syslog_rpmsg_buf, sizeof(g_syslog_rpmsg_buf));
 #endif
+
+#ifdef CONFIG_ARCH_PERF_EVENTS
+  up_perf_init((void *)CONFIG_SYS_CLOCK_HW_CYCLES_PER_SEC);
+#endif
 }
diff --git a/arch/arm64/src/qemu/qemu_boot.h b/arch/arm64/src/qemu/qemu_boot.h
index 3eba3ce84c8..c9942684e88 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/src/qemu/qemu_boot.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/src/qemu/qemu_boot.h
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@
  * Pre-processor Definitions
  ****************************************************************************/
 
+#define CONFIG_SYS_CLOCK_HW_CYCLES_PER_SEC  62500000
+
 /****************************************************************************
  * Public Function Prototypes
  ****************************************************************************/