A data processing accelerator having a local time unit to generate timestamps

A data processing system, comprising:

• a host system hosting one or more trusted execution environments (TEEs), each TEE hosting at least one application therein;
• and
• one or more data processing (DP) accelerators coupled to the host system over a bus, wherein each of the DP accelerators comprises
• one or more execution units (EUs) configured to perform data processing operations in response to an instruction received from a host system coupled over a bus,
• a security unit (SU) configured to establish and maintain a secure channel with the host system to exchange commands and data associated with the data processing operations, and
• a time unit (TU) coupled to the security unit to provide timestamp services to the security unit, wherein the time unit comprises
• a clock generator to generate clock signals locally without having to derive the clock signals from an external source,
• a timestamp generator coupled to the clock generator to generate a timestamp based on the clock signals, and
• a power supply to provide power to the clock generator and the timestamp generator.