South Korea’s three dominant tobacco companies are taking different approaches to the country’s growing market for noncombustible nicotine products. KT&G is investing in premium heated tobacco, Philip Morris International (PMI) is expanding into vaping, and British American Tobacco (BAT) is reportedly scaling back investment in South Korea’s vaping market to focus on its glo heated tobacco business.
The diverging strategies show how competition is spreading beyond cigarettes and even beyond the heated tobacco products that have dominated South Korea’s alternative nicotine market. Tobacco Reporter reported on Oct. 5 that the three companies are increasingly competing across different electronic nicotine categories.
Market leader KT&G is betting heavily on premium heated tobacco. In August, the Korean company reported a 48.2 percent domestic market share for its next-generation products. Second-quarter NGP revenue increased 23.8 percent year over year to 242.7 billion won.
KT&G attributed part of that growth to a larger share of premium tobacco sticks following the February launch of its lil AIBLE 3.0 device. The company said it also planned additional NGP launches during the second half of 2026.
PMI, meanwhile, has moved beyond its established IQOS heated tobacco business in Korea and into the e-vapor category. Philip Morris Korea announced in August that it would launch VEEV in the country, adding a liquid-based vaping product to its Korean smoke-free lineup. The company’s global portfolio includes heated tobacco, e-vapor, and oral nicotine products.
That expansion fits PMI’s broader multi-category strategy. The company says smoke-free products generated 42 percent of its global net revenue as of July 22, and it wants the share to exceed two-thirds by 2030.
BAT is moving in a different direction, emphasizing its glo heated tobacco business. Globally, the company has been reallocating resources toward what it calls its most profitable markets and categories. BAT said earlier this year that it had streamlined the commercial footprint of its heated-products business while expanding premium glo products in selected markets.
The companies’ different bets come as South Korea remains an unusually important heated tobacco market. KT&G reports a 48.2 percent share of South Korea’s heated tobacco market, while PMI and BAT are trying different ways to capture consumers moving away from combustible cigarettes.
The next stage of that competition may be less about winning a single product category than about offering, or deliberately choosing not to offer, multiple alternatives to smoking.
CBG (cannabigerol) is the mother of all cannabinoids, including CBD and THC. Learn more about CBG flower, its effects, strains, and whether it can get you high.
Learn how old you have to be to buy caffeine pouches, including federal and state age restrictions, retailer policies, and rules for minors.
Learn whether caffeine pouches are safe, including potential side effects, caffeine limits, oral health risks, and who should avoid them.
Because of declining cigarette sales, state governments in the U.S. and countries around the world are looking to vapor products as a new source of tax revenue.
