diff --git a/Objects/obmalloc.c b/Objects/obmalloc.c
index 33fca3abfb3509..5a3224016253af 100644
--- a/Objects/obmalloc.c
+++ b/Objects/obmalloc.c
@@ -1455,9 +1455,9 @@ PyObject_Free(void *ptr)
 }
 
 
-/* If we're using GCC, use __builtin_expect() to reduce overhead of
+/* Use __builtin_expect() where available to reduce overhead of
    the valgrind checks */
-#if defined(__GNUC__) && (__GNUC__ > 2) && defined(__OPTIMIZE__)
+#if (defined(__clang__) || (defined(__GNUC__) && (__GNUC__ > 2))) && defined(__OPTIMIZE__)
 #  define UNLIKELY(value) __builtin_expect((value), 0)
 #  define LIKELY(value) __builtin_expect((value), 1)
 #else