diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 8a8dcb4e30b..64d15e23e5b 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -332,6 +332,8 @@ Tools/Demos
 Build
 -----
 
+- Issue #1633863: Don't ignore $CC under AIX.
+
 - Issue #9552: Avoid unnecessary rebuild of OpenSSL. (Windows)
 
 - Issue #9810: Compile bzip2 source files in python's project file
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 254cae7cf19..78968e69c31 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #! /bin/sh
-# From configure.in Revision: 84676 .
+# From configure.in Revision: 84683 .
 # Guess values for system-dependent variables and create Makefiles.
 # Generated by GNU Autoconf 2.65 for python 2.7.
 #
@@ -3181,7 +3181,7 @@ if test "${with_gcc+set}" = set; then :
 else
 
 	case $ac_sys_system in
-	AIX*)   CC=cc_r
+	AIX*)   CC=${CC:-xlc_r}
 		without_gcc=;;
 	BeOS*)
 		case $BE_HOST_CPU in
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 51cdaa5ea45..390781851ac 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ AC_ARG_WITH(gcc,
 		without_gcc=$withval;;
 	esac], [
 	case $ac_sys_system in
-	AIX*)   CC=cc_r
+	AIX*)   CC=${CC:-xlc_r}
 		without_gcc=;;
 	BeOS*)
 		case $BE_HOST_CPU in