diff --git a/drivers/serial/Kconfig b/drivers/serial/Kconfig
index 887cd687c027dbbe59820f239ddeb43d01f0c2c0..fcbb0a81edde04a959ee8c10c4ffc5dec6bbd292 100644
--- a/drivers/serial/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/serial/Kconfig
@@ -508,6 +508,15 @@ config ATMEL_USART
 	  configured in the device tree, and input clock frequency can
 	  be got from the clk node.
 
+config SPL_UART_CLOCK
+	int "SPL fixed UART input clock"
+	depends on ATMEL_USART && SPL && !SPL_CLK
+	default 132096000 if ARCH_AT91
+	help
+	  Provide a fixed clock value as input to the UART controller. This
+	  might be needed on platforms which can't enable CONFIG_SPL_CLK
+	  because of SPL image size restrictions.
+
 config BCM283X_MU_SERIAL
 	bool "Support for BCM283x Mini-UART"
 	depends on DM_SERIAL && ARCH_BCM283X
diff --git a/drivers/serial/atmel_usart.c b/drivers/serial/atmel_usart.c
index aa8cdff84082995a7e6c820ab52d9c4c345e72c6..c450a4e08a3dc3f33c15a07829c22fd4950e083b 100644
--- a/drivers/serial/atmel_usart.c
+++ b/drivers/serial/atmel_usart.c
@@ -218,6 +218,17 @@ static const struct dm_serial_ops atmel_serial_ops = {
 	.setbrg = atmel_serial_setbrg,
 };
 
+#if defined(CONFIG_SPL_BUILD) && !defined(CONFIG_SPL_CLK)
+static int atmel_serial_enable_clk(struct udevice *dev)
+{
+	struct atmel_serial_priv *priv = dev_get_priv(dev);
+
+	/* Use fixed clock value in SPL */
+	priv->usart_clk_rate = CONFIG_SPL_UART_CLOCK;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+#else
 static int atmel_serial_enable_clk(struct udevice *dev)
 {
 	struct atmel_serial_priv *priv = dev_get_priv(dev);
@@ -245,6 +256,7 @@ static int atmel_serial_enable_clk(struct udevice *dev)
 
 	return 0;
 }
+#endif
 
 static int atmel_serial_probe(struct udevice *dev)
 {