I assume you're talking about printing your digital photos? I can't speak for all labs, but I worked in an independent 1-hour photo place a few years ago and all the digital pictures we printed were printed on the same hardware as the film photos were printed on.
Something like this. It takes either the digital file or a hi-res scan of the negative and then uses lasers to expose photo paper. Definitely a more advanced process than inkjet, and probably
longer lasting.