  We analyze the first results on charged particle multiplicity at RHIC in the
conventional eikonal approach and in the framework of high density QCD. We
extract the fraction $F$ of the hadron multiplicity originating from ``hard''
(i.e. proportional to the number of binary collisions) processes; we find a
strong growth of this fraction with energy: $F(\sqrt{s}=56 {\rm GeV}) \simeq
22%$, while $F(\sqrt{s}=130 {\rm GeV}) \simeq 37 %$. This indicates a rapid
increase in the density of the produced particles. We outline the predictions
of high density QCD for the centrality, energy, and atomic number dependence of
hadron production. Surprisingly, the predictions of the conventional eikonal
approach and of high density QCD for centrality dependence of hadron
multiplicity at $\sqrt{s}=130 {\rm GeV}$ appear very similar.
