diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 22cffdcc3c3..a4373517762 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -565,6 +565,8 @@ Extension Modules
 Build
 -----
 
+- Issue #1633863: Don't ignore $CC under AIX.
+
 - Issue #9810: Compile bzip2 source files in python's project file
   directly. It used to be built with bzip2's makefile.
 
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 7313145ed1d..4a2f352e9c0 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #! /bin/sh
-# From configure.in Revision: 84675 .
+# From configure.in Revision: 84682 .
 # Guess values for system-dependent variables and create Makefiles.
 # Generated by GNU Autoconf 2.65 for python 3.1.
 #
@@ -3131,7 +3131,7 @@ if test "${with_gcc+set}" = set; then :
 else
 
 	case $ac_sys_system in
-	AIX*)   CC=cc_r
+	AIX*)   CC=${CC:-xlc_r}
 		without_gcc=;;
 	*)	without_gcc=no;;
 	esac
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 73ab4a4fbe5..0cd5514e170 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ AC_ARG_WITH(gcc,
 		without_gcc=$withval;;
 	esac], [
 	case $ac_sys_system in
-	AIX*)   CC=cc_r
+	AIX*)   CC=${CC:-xlc_r}
 		without_gcc=;;
 	*)	without_gcc=no;;
 	esac])