diff --git a/hw/core/numa.c b/hw/core/numa.c
index e6baf2c33e..316bc50d75 100644
--- a/hw/core/numa.c
+++ b/hw/core/numa.c
@@ -806,40 +806,6 @@ void numa_cpu_pre_plug(const CPUArchId *slot, DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     }
 }
 
-static void allocate_system_memory_nonnuma(MemoryRegion *mr, Object *owner,
-                                           const char *name,
-                                           uint64_t ram_size)
-{
-    if (mem_path) {
-#ifdef __linux__
-        memory_region_init_ram_from_file(mr, owner, name, ram_size, 0, 0,
-                                         mem_path, &error_fatal);
-#else
-        fprintf(stderr, "-mem-path not supported on this host\n");
-        exit(1);
-#endif
-    } else {
-        memory_region_init_ram_nomigrate(mr, owner, name, ram_size, &error_fatal);
-    }
-    vmstate_register_ram_global(mr);
-}
-
-void memory_region_allocate_system_memory(MemoryRegion *mr, Object *owner,
-                                          const char *name,
-                                          uint64_t ram_size)
-{
-    MachineState *ms = MACHINE(qdev_get_machine());
-
-    if (ms->numa_state == NULL ||
-        ms->numa_state->num_nodes == 0 || numa_uses_legacy_mem()) {
-        allocate_system_memory_nonnuma(mr, owner, name, ram_size);
-        return;
-    }
-
-    memory_region_init(mr, owner, name, ram_size);
-    numa_init_memdev_container(ms, mr);
-}
-
 static void numa_stat_memory_devices(NumaNodeMem node_mem[])
 {
     MemoryDeviceInfoList *info_list = qmp_memory_device_list();
diff --git a/include/hw/boards.h b/include/hw/boards.h
index ae2b60fb5e..142b86d0ae 100644
--- a/include/hw/boards.h
+++ b/include/hw/boards.h
@@ -12,38 +12,6 @@
 #include "qom/object.h"
 #include "hw/core/cpu.h"
 
-/**
- * memory_region_allocate_system_memory - Allocate a board's main memory
- * @mr: the #MemoryRegion to be initialized
- * @owner: the object that tracks the region's reference count
- * @name: name of the memory region
- * @ram_size: size of the region in bytes
- *
- * This function allocates the main memory for a board model, and
- * initializes @mr appropriately. It also arranges for the memory
- * to be migrated (by calling vmstate_register_ram_global()).
- *
- * Memory allocated via this function will be backed with the memory
- * backend the user provided using "-mem-path" or "-numa node,memdev=..."
- * if appropriate; this is typically used to cause host huge pages to be
- * used. This function should therefore be called by a board exactly once,
- * for the primary or largest RAM area it implements.
- *
- * For boards where the major RAM is split into two parts in the memory
- * map, you can deal with this by calling memory_region_allocate_system_memory()
- * once to get a MemoryRegion with enough RAM for both parts, and then
- * creating alias MemoryRegions via memory_region_init_alias() which
- * alias into different parts of the RAM MemoryRegion and can be mapped
- * into the memory map in the appropriate places.
- *
- * Smaller pieces of memory (display RAM, static RAMs, etc) don't need
- * to be backed via the -mem-path memory backend and can simply
- * be created via memory_region_init_ram().
- */
-void memory_region_allocate_system_memory(MemoryRegion *mr, Object *owner,
-                                          const char *name,
-                                          uint64_t ram_size);
-
 #define TYPE_MACHINE_SUFFIX "-machine"
 
 /* Machine class name that needs to be used for class-name-based machine