return 0;
 }
 
-static DEFINE_SPINLOCK(balancing);
+/*
+ * This flag serializes load-balancing passes over large domains
+ * (above the NODE topology level) - only one load-balancing instance
+ * may run at a time, to reduce overhead on very large systems with
+ * lots of CPUs and large NUMA distances.
+ *
+ * - Note that load-balancing passes triggered while another one
+ *   is executing are skipped and not re-tried.
+ *
+ * - Also note that this does not serialize rebalance_domains()
+ *   execution, as non-SD_SERIALIZE domains will still be
+ *   load-balanced in parallel.
+ */
+static atomic_t sched_balance_running = ATOMIC_INIT(0);
 
 /*
  * Scale the max load_balance interval with the number of CPUs in the system.
 
                need_serialize = sd->flags & SD_SERIALIZE;
                if (need_serialize) {
-                       if (!spin_trylock(&balancing))
+                       if (atomic_cmpxchg_acquire(&sched_balance_running, 0, 1))
                                goto out;
                }
 
                        interval = get_sd_balance_interval(sd, busy);
                }
                if (need_serialize)
-                       spin_unlock(&balancing);
+                       atomic_set_release(&sched_balance_running, 0);
 out:
                if (time_after(next_balance, sd->last_balance + interval)) {
                        next_balance = sd->last_balance + interval;