diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/platform.h.in b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/platform.h.in
index 6cf28d45234..72670674c33 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/platform.h.in
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/platform.h.in
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ typedef unsigned int uint32_t;
 /* Compiler information for attributes                                       */
 /*===========================================================================*/
 
-#define GCC 0
+#define U_GCC @U_GCC@
 
 /*===========================================================================*/
 /* Programs used by ICU code                                                 */
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/umachine.h b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/umachine.h
index 748293cd974..7cded1774c4 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/umachine.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/umachine.h
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@
 #endif
 
 /** This is used for GCC specific attributes*/
-#ifdef GCC
+#if U_GCC
 #    define U_GCC_ATTRIBUTE_DEPRECATED __attribute__ ((deprecated))
 #else
 #    define U_GCC_ATTRIBUTE_DEPRECATED
diff --git a/icu4c/source/configure b/icu4c/source/configure
index 8f1cc2cccdb..934d762ea1f 100755
--- a/icu4c/source/configure
+++ b/icu4c/source/configure
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ ac_includes_default="\
 # include <unistd.h>
 #endif"
 
-ac_subst_vars='SHELL PATH_SEPARATOR PACKAGE_NAME PACKAGE_TARNAME PACKAGE_VERSION PACKAGE_STRING PACKAGE_BUGREPORT exec_prefix prefix program_transform_name bindir sbindir libexecdir datarootdir datadir sysconfdir sharedstatedir localstatedir libdir includedir oldincludedir infodir mandir build_alias host_alias target_alias DEFS ECHO_C ECHO_N ECHO_T LIBS PACKAGE VERSION LIB_VERSION LIB_VERSION_MAJOR UNICODE_VERSION build build_cpu build_vendor build_os host host_cpu host_vendor host_os CPPFLAGS CC CFLAGS LDFLAGS ac_ct_CC EXEEXT OBJEXT CXX CXXFLAGS ac_ct_CXX INSTALL_PROGRAM INSTALL_SCRIPT INSTALL_DATA U_MAKE DOXYGEN ARFLAGS COMPILE_LINK_ENVVAR LIB_M ENABLE_SHARED ENABLE_STATIC ENABLE_DEBUG ENABLE_RELEASE U_DEFAULT_SHOW_DRAFT U_USE_GCC_VISIBILITY_ATTRIBUTE LIBCFLAGS LIBCXXFLAGS RANLIB ac_ct_RANLIB AR U_DISABLE_RENAMING U_ENABLE_TRACING ENABLE_RPATH U_INLINE THREADS_TRUE ICU_USE_THREADS LIB_THREAD HAVE_MMAP GENCCODE_ASSEMBLY CPP EGREP U_HAVE_INTTYPES_H U_IOSTREAM_SOURCE U_IS_BIG_ENDIAN U_HAVE_NL_LANGINFO_CODESET U_NL_LANGINFO_CODESET U_HAVE_NAMESPACE U_OVERRIDE_CXX_ALLOCATION U_HAVE_PLACEMENT_NEW U_HAVE_POPEN U_HAVE_TZSET U_TZSET U_HAVE_TZNAME U_TZNAME U_HAVE_TIMEZONE U_TIMEZONE HAVE_INT8_T HAVE_UINT8_T HAVE_INT16_T HAVE_UINT16_T HAVE_INT32_T HAVE_UINT32_T HAVE_INT64_T HAVE_UINT64_T U_HAVE_WCHAR_H U_HAVE_WCSCPY U_SIZEOF_WCHAR_T U_CHECK_UTF16_STRING EXTRAS_TRUE ICUIO_TRUE LAYOUT_TRUE pkgicudatadir thepkgicudatadir DATA_PACKAGING_MODE ICULIBSUFFIX U_HAVE_LIB_SUFFIX ICULIBSUFFIXCNAME TESTS_TRUE SAMPLES_TRUE ICUDATA_CHAR platform platform_make_fragment_name platform_make_fragment LIBOBJS LTLIBOBJS'
+ac_subst_vars='SHELL PATH_SEPARATOR PACKAGE_NAME PACKAGE_TARNAME PACKAGE_VERSION PACKAGE_STRING PACKAGE_BUGREPORT exec_prefix prefix program_transform_name bindir sbindir libexecdir datarootdir datadir sysconfdir sharedstatedir localstatedir libdir includedir oldincludedir infodir mandir build_alias host_alias target_alias DEFS ECHO_C ECHO_N ECHO_T LIBS PACKAGE VERSION LIB_VERSION LIB_VERSION_MAJOR UNICODE_VERSION build build_cpu build_vendor build_os host host_cpu host_vendor host_os CPPFLAGS CC CFLAGS LDFLAGS ac_ct_CC EXEEXT OBJEXT CXX CXXFLAGS ac_ct_CXX U_GCC INSTALL_PROGRAM INSTALL_SCRIPT INSTALL_DATA U_MAKE DOXYGEN ARFLAGS COMPILE_LINK_ENVVAR LIB_M ENABLE_SHARED ENABLE_STATIC ENABLE_DEBUG ENABLE_RELEASE U_DEFAULT_SHOW_DRAFT U_USE_GCC_VISIBILITY_ATTRIBUTE LIBCFLAGS LIBCXXFLAGS RANLIB ac_ct_RANLIB AR U_DISABLE_RENAMING U_ENABLE_TRACING ENABLE_RPATH U_INLINE THREADS_TRUE ICU_USE_THREADS LIB_THREAD HAVE_MMAP GENCCODE_ASSEMBLY CPP EGREP U_HAVE_INTTYPES_H U_IOSTREAM_SOURCE U_IS_BIG_ENDIAN U_HAVE_NL_LANGINFO_CODESET U_NL_LANGINFO_CODESET U_HAVE_NAMESPACE U_OVERRIDE_CXX_ALLOCATION U_HAVE_PLACEMENT_NEW U_HAVE_POPEN U_HAVE_TZSET U_TZSET U_HAVE_TZNAME U_TZNAME U_HAVE_TIMEZONE U_TIMEZONE HAVE_INT8_T HAVE_UINT8_T HAVE_INT16_T HAVE_UINT16_T HAVE_INT32_T HAVE_UINT32_T HAVE_INT64_T HAVE_UINT64_T U_HAVE_WCHAR_H U_HAVE_WCSCPY U_SIZEOF_WCHAR_T U_CHECK_UTF16_STRING EXTRAS_TRUE ICUIO_TRUE LAYOUT_TRUE pkgicudatadir thepkgicudatadir DATA_PACKAGING_MODE ICULIBSUFFIX U_HAVE_LIB_SUFFIX ICULIBSUFFIXCNAME TESTS_TRUE SAMPLES_TRUE ICUDATA_CHAR platform platform_make_fragment_name platform_make_fragment LIBOBJS LTLIBOBJS'
 ac_subst_files=''
 
 # Initialize some variables set by options.
@@ -2049,6 +2049,10 @@ fi
 echo "$as_me:$LINENO: result: $ac_cv_c_compiler_gnu" >&5
 echo "${ECHO_T}$ac_cv_c_compiler_gnu" >&6
 GCC=`test $ac_compiler_gnu = yes && echo yes`
+U_GCC=0
+if test "$GCC" = yes; then
+  U_GCC=1
+fi
 ac_test_CFLAGS=${CFLAGS+set}
 ac_save_CFLAGS=$CFLAGS
 CFLAGS="-g"
@@ -9112,6 +9116,7 @@ s,@OBJEXT@,$OBJEXT,;t t
 s,@CXX@,$CXX,;t t
 s,@CXXFLAGS@,$CXXFLAGS,;t t
 s,@ac_ct_CXX@,$ac_ct_CXX,;t t
+s,@U_GCC@,$U_GCC,;t t
 s,@INSTALL_PROGRAM@,$INSTALL_PROGRAM,;t t
 s,@INSTALL_SCRIPT@,$INSTALL_SCRIPT,;t t
 s,@INSTALL_DATA@,$INSTALL_DATA,;t t