This New York Times article discusses the "biofab" companies that are popping up to synthesize genes for pharma or academic scientists. The cost per base pair has dropped below a dollar and sales of oligos are estimated to be about $700 million a year, though some say that number is a bit high. The emerging field of synthetic biology may present an opportunity for these foundries, but according to the news story, some companies aren't looking in that direction for fear of losing public trust.