JTI Raises Heated-Tobacco Investment 60% to Press Ploom Into 29 Markets

Japan Tobacco International plans to invest 800 billion yen, roughly €4.5 billion, in heated-tobacco products from 2026 through 2028, a 60% increase over the previous three-year period, according to the Spanish business newspaper Cinco Días.

The money is earmarked for Ploom, the group's heated-tobacco franchise, and for the cigarette sticks that feed it. JTI is targeting an average 15% market share across the 29 markets where Ploom operates, with Poland and Italy among its stated priorities. The two countries matter: they are large enough European markets that a double-digit share move would shift the competitive balance against Philip Morris International's IQOS, the category leader, and against Altria's Ploom-independent positioning.

The timing is deliberate. The parent, Japan Tobacco Inc., has framed Ploom as a "second growth engine" after combustible cigarettes, and has cited the Ploom AURA device as the product that lifted its share of Japan's heated-tobacco market to 15.8% in the first quarter of 2026. The group's chief executive, Takehiko Tsutsui, has publicly committed the 800-billion-yen spend over the same three-year window. JTI is the international arm; the combined commitment puts Japan's largest tobacco company squarely in the middle of a global heated-tobacco race it has so far played as a challenger.

The strategy is two-sided. On the device side, JTI is pushing Ploom AURA and its successor form factors into markets where IQOS has established retail, and where its own distribution has historically leaned on combustible. On the stick side, it is widening the available flavours, a move that is aimed squarely at the premium segment where IQOS's HEETS has set the reference.

For the heated-tobacco category as a whole, the 60% uplift is a signal that the Japanese incumbent is no longer content to defend a niche. It is a capital commitment that will show up over the next three years as new-market launches, retailer stocking and stick-line expansion, all aimed at the same 15% share target. The question it leaves open is whether Ploom can convert share in the priority markets into a durable position against a larger, more established rival.

The company has not published a breakdown of how the 800 billion yen will be allocated between device development, stick production and marketing. The figure, reported by Cinco Días, has not yet been independently confirmed by JTI in a public filing.