Al‐free 980 nm InGaAs/InGaAsP/InGaP laser structures grown by low‐pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (LP‐MOCVD) have been optimized for high cw output power by incorporating a broad waveguide design. Increasing the optical‐confinement layer total thickness from 0.2 to 1.0 μm decreases the internal loss fivefold to 1.0–1.5 cm−1, and doubles the transverse spot size to 0.6 μm (full width half‐maximum). Consequently, 4‐mm long, 100‐μm‐aperture devices emit up to 8.1 W front‐facet cw power. cw power conversion efficiencies as high as 59% are obtained from 0.5‐mm long devices. Catastrophic‐optical‐mirror‐damage (COMD) power‐density levels reach 15.0–15.5 MW/cm2, and are found similar to those for InGaAs/AlGaAs facet‐coated diode lasers.