diff --git a/icu4c/source/config/mh-linux-va b/icu4c/source/config/mh-linux-va
index 2b25ee43076..2f104364fb7 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/config/mh-linux-va
+++ b/icu4c/source/config/mh-linux-va
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ## -*-makefile-*-
 ## Linux-specific setup for Visual Age
-## Copyright (c) 1999-2004, International Business Machines Corporation and
+## Copyright (c) 2003-2004, International Business Machines Corporation and
 ## others. All Rights Reserved.
 
 ## Commands to generate dependency files
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ LD_RPATH=	-I
 
 #LD_SONAME =
 
+## The type of assembly needed when pkgdata is used for generating shared libraries.
+GENCCODE_ASSEMBLY=-a gcc
+
 ## Shared object suffix
 SO = so
 ## Non-shared intermediate object suffix
diff --git a/icu4c/source/configure b/icu4c/source/configure
index d594f1feadb..b18dea2cc93 100755
--- a/icu4c/source/configure
+++ b/icu4c/source/configure
@@ -2267,7 +2267,7 @@ fi
 
 GENCCODE_ASSEMBLY=
 case "${host}" in
-i*86-*-*bsd*|i*86-*-linux*)
+i*86-*-*bsd*|i*86-*-linux*|powerpc*-*-linux*)
     if test "$GCC" = yes; then
                 GENCCODE_ASSEMBLY="-a gcc"
     fi ;;
diff --git a/icu4c/source/configure.in b/icu4c/source/configure.in
index e54bf83d6bc..324e8418b50 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/configure.in
+++ b/icu4c/source/configure.in
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ AC_SUBST(HAVE_MMAP)
 dnl Check to see if genccode can generate simple assembly.
 GENCCODE_ASSEMBLY=
 case "${host}" in
-i*86-*-*bsd*|i*86-*-linux*)
+i*86-*-*bsd*|i*86-*-linux*|powerpc*-*-linux*)
     if test "$GCC" = yes; then
         dnl We're using gcc, and the simple -a gcc command line works for genccode
         GENCCODE_ASSEMBLY="-a gcc"