diff --git a/kernel/sched/fair.c b/kernel/sched/fair.c
index 6a16129f9a5c..2ef89b36aed1 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/fair.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/fair.c
@@ -11633,7 +11633,20 @@ out_unlock:
 	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.
@@ -11711,7 +11724,7 @@ static void rebalance_domains(struct rq *rq, enum cpu_idle_type idle)
 
 		need_serialize = sd->flags & SD_SERIALIZE;
 		if (need_serialize) {
-			if (!spin_trylock(&balancing))
+			if (atomic_cmpxchg_acquire(&sched_balance_running, 0, 1))
 				goto out;
 		}
 
@@ -11729,7 +11742,7 @@ static void rebalance_domains(struct rq *rq, enum cpu_idle_type idle)
 			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;