Lasers have both ubiquitous applications and roles as model systems in which non-equilibrium and cooperative phenomena can be elucidated1. The introduction of novel concepts in laser operation thus has potential to lead to both new applications and fundamental insights2. Spintronics3, in which both the spin and the charge of the electron are used, has led to the development of spin-lasers, in which charge-carrier spin and photon spin are exploited. Here we show experimentally that the coupling between carrier spin and light polarization in common semiconductor lasers can enable room-temperature modulation frequencies above 200 gigahertz, exceeding by nearly an order of magnitude the best conventional semiconductor lasers. Surprisingly, this ultrafast operation of the resultant spin-laser relies on a short carrier spin relaxation time and a large anisotropy of the refractive index, both of which are commonly viewed as detrimental in spintronics3 and conventional lasers4. Our results overcome the key speed limitations of conventional directly modulated lasers and offer a prospect for the next generation of low-energy ultrafast optical communication.