Chip Express | SYNC's Domestic Atomic Clock: How a "Chinese Chip" Precision Drives the Internet of Everything Era?

CNOOC recently successfully overcame the world-class challenge of developing offshore reef limestone oil fields. This breakthrough was achieved thanks to SYNC's chip-based atomic clocks, which provide high-precision time and frequency support for its submarine exploration equipment. As the pinnacle of cutting-edge technology and a core strategic resource, SYNC's atomic clock series has become the "cornerstone of precision" in key areas across land, sea, and air.

01 From Astronomical Time to Atomic Time: Why Do We Need Atomic Clocks?

Before the advent of atomic clocks, human timekeeping evolved from "astronomical time" determined by star observation, to "mechanical time" using mechanical clocks, and finally to "crystal time" dominated by quartz oscillators. Each breakthrough improved time accuracy by a hundredfold, but traditional timekeeping methods faced significant bottlenecks: Quartz clocks are susceptible to temperature and voltage fluctuations, resulting in daily errors of approximately one second; mechanical watches, further affected by factors such as gravity and friction, exhibit even lower accuracy. These errors may not be a problem in everyday life, but they've become a serious flaw in cutting-edge technology. This is especially true in the new technological revolution driven by the "Internet of Everything," digital twins, and AI big models. Whether it's the microsecond-level synchronization required by 5G base stations to ensure smooth video, the nanosecond-level synchronization required by 6G for integrated communications across air, space, land, and sea, autonomous driving relying on nanosecond-level timestamps to fuse multiple sensors for safe obstacle avoidance, or even the high-precision coordination of thousands of satellites in global satellite internet constellations—all rely on high-precision time signals.

02 The Rise of Domestic Power: CESI's Decade of Sharpening

As a leading company in the domestic time and frequency field, CESI Electronics began independent research and development of atomic clocks in 2013. Through the deep integration of industry, academia, research, and application, CESI has gradually overcome technological barriers. Over the past decade, they have established a complete chain from chip design to packaging and testing to mass production and deployment, launching atomic clock products and solutions with several key internationally leading indicators.

1. Fully In-House Development, Leading the Way in Key Technologies

70% of an atomic clock's performance depends on the performance of its core components. Leveraging its provincial-level enterprise research institute and postdoctoral workstation, CESI has collaborated closely with universities such as Peking University to achieve breakthroughs in key components such as atomic gas chambers, quantum chips, and integrated microwave circuits. CESI's proprietary rubidium atomic clocks and chip-based atomic clocks achieve 100% domestic production, completely breaking free from foreign technological blockades and laying the foundation for high performance and reliability.

2. Miniaturization and Low Power Consumption: Redefining Atomic Clocks

Despite their high precision, traditional atomic clocks suffer from common drawbacks such as large size, high power consumption, and slow startup, hindering their application in lightweight applications such as satellites, 5G base stations, and drones.

CESI Electronics' domestically developed chip-scale atomic clock, based on the coherent population trapping principle and MEMS technology, reduces the size of traditional atomic clocks from tens of cubic centimeters to the size of a matchbox, while also reducing power consumption to 130 mW and maintaining frequency stability of ≤1.0E-10.

This breakthrough not only elevates atomic clocks from "laboratory staples" to "standard equipment for the Internet of Things," but also directly enables CNOOC to successfully overcome the world-class challenges of developing offshore reef limestone oil fields.

3. Superior Environmental Adaptability: An All-Round Player for Land, Sea, and Air

With the advent of the "Internet of Everything" era, atomic clocks are evolving from "national treasures" to "public needs." Targeting applications in satellites, aerospace, submarine exploration, finance and securities, smart grids, and the Internet of Things, SIS has launched a series of rubidium and chip-based atomic clocks. These clocks utilize high-temperature, pressure-resistant, and corrosion-resistant packaging, offering robust environmental adaptability and maintaining stable output in environments ranging from -40°C to +80°C.

In addition, standardized electrical and mechanical interfaces enable rapid integration into existing systems. They are currently widely used in demanding scenarios such as 5G base stations, CNOOC deepwater equipment, and finance and securities.

4. From devices to systems, serving as the "invisible pillar" of the digital age

Sys not only provides high-precision atomic clocks but also, with atomic clocks at its core, combines proprietary FPGA timing/reservation algorithms, hardware design and software customization, and large-scale time and frequency networking and management capabilities to launch clock servers, time and frequency test equipment, and system-level end-to-end solutions.

After adopting a synchronization solution using Sys' atomic clocks, a telecom operator saw a 50% improvement in PTP timing accuracy, significantly supporting the application of Urllc technology in critical services such as autonomous driving and remote surgery. Currently, a large number of newly built 5G base stations across China are equipped with Sys' domestically developed atomic clocks, significantly improving network synchronization accuracy and stability.

03 From catching up to leading: The future of Sys' atomic clocks

Looking back at the 2025 milestone, Sys' atomic clock development journey epitomizes China's journey from technological isolation to independent control in the time and frequency field, and from filling gaps to achieving a partial lead.

Today, SIS is deeply integrated into national strategies and the digital economy. It supports the 5G network construction of China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, ensuring synchronization requirements for over 70% of the country's backbone networks and ultra-high voltage projects. It provides time and frequency assurance for national energy security (for CNPC, Sinopec, and CNOOC). It participates in major projects such as the "East-West Computing" Qingyang Hub and the Three Gorges and South-to-North Water Diversion Projects, establishing a time benchmark for the digital world. Furthermore, it empowers digital infrastructure with nanosecond-level synchronization services in emerging fields such as the Beijing High-Level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone and the Alibaba Cloud/ByteDance Computing Center.

In the future, with the rise of emerging fields such as quantum computing, deep space exploration, and low-orbit satellite internet, the atomic clock accuracy race will continue to escalate. SIS has established strategic partnerships with several leading industry companies, committed to improving the environmental adaptability and reliability of its products, further expanding the application boundaries of atomic clocks in quantum communications, autonomous driving, and other fields, and continuing to lay the crucial "time foundation" for China's digital future.