diff --git a/arch/sandbox/include/asm/atomic.h b/arch/sandbox/include/asm/atomic.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2fe49f52f34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/arch/sandbox/include/asm/atomic.h
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+ */
+/*
+ * Based on arch/riscv/include/asm/atomic.h which is:
+ * Copyright 2023 SiFive, Inc.
+ */
+
+#ifndef __SANDBOX_ATOMIC_H
+#define __SANDBOX_ATOMIC_H
+
+/* use the generic asm/atomic.h until we define a better one */
+
+#include <asm/system.h>
+#include <asm-generic/atomic.h>
+
+#endif