It has a face-centered cubic ("zincblende") crystal structure, identical to that of GaAs and most of the III-V semiconductors.

The devices include pseudomorphic heterojunction bipolar transistors that could operate at 604 GHz.

[10] InP itself has a direct bandgap, making it useful for optoelectronics devices like laser diodes and photonic integrated circuits for the optical telecommunications industry, to enable wavelength-division multiplexing applications.

[12] Further, O-band and C-band wavelengths supported by InP facilitate single-mode operation, reducing effects of intermodal dispersion.

InP can be used in photonic integrated circuits that can generate, amplify, control and detect laser light.