We report room‐temperature lasing at 0.94–1.002 &mgr;m in high‐finesse Fabry– Perot resonators with InxGa1−xAs/GaAs multiple quantum well active layers (x=0.18–0.2). The quantum wells and AlAs/GaAs quarter‐wave stack mirrors were epitaxially grown on GaAs substrates. Optically pumping with 0.875 &mgr;m, 10 ps pulses yielded a threshold of 15 pJ incident pulse energy. The equivalent threshold current density is about 26 &mgr;A/&mgr;m2(2.6 kA/cm2), suggesting ultralow thresholds in micrometer‐size devices. At the lasing wavelengths the GaAs substrates are essentially transparent allowing the possibility of integrating micro‐optic lenslets on the substrate backsides for light collection. Nonlinear optical gating of 1.064 &mgr;m light was also achieved in these structures.